Stadium Day at the second annual sports economics conference at University of Maryland-Baltimore County isn’t until tomorrow, so while I’m attending today, I’m not liveblogging, meaning you’ll have to wait 24 hours for this kind of nonstop excitement. But it also means I have time to check in on the question everyone spent the winter wondering: How is A’s owner John Fisher’s mad scheme to leave Oakland and play three seasons in a temporary home in a minor-league stadium in Sacramento before (hopefully, maybe) moving to Las Vegas working out?
Welp:
The A’s opened their three-year (or perhaps longer) stay in Sacramento on Monday night, and it was an unmitigated disaster — to the point that getting absolutely decimated 18-3 by the Cubs barely registered on the Disaster Scale.
Do tell!
The most embarrassing thing out of Monday night was the A’s English and Spanish radio feeds completely crashing out by the later innings of the blowout loss, forcing the team to switch their television audio into their radio feed to listeners.
But not the only embarrassing thing:
The A’s temporary home in Sacramento — Pacific League Ballpark Sutter Health Park — doesn’t have bathrooms attached to the dugouts. Yes, that’s right, much to the dismay of the A’s and visiting teams like Monday night’s Chicago Cubs, whereas every other MLB Stadium has a tunnel that leads from the dugout to the clubhouse and locker room, Sutter Health’s player’s area is located near left field.
So when Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki had to head to the clubhouse to presumably take a leak, he had to do what is now being called “The Walk of Shame,” as they paused the game so Suzuki could run all the way across the outfield and do his business.
And also:
A’s owner John Fisher, who did not attend a game in Oakland last season, was at the ballpark to hear occasional chants of “Let’s go Oakland” and see a handful of fans wearing SELL T-shirts. Several others wore T shirts or sweatshirts that read, “I’d rather be at the Oakland Coliseum.” A spirited but brief “Sell the team” chant arose after the bottom of the sixth, with the Cubs leading 16-3.
And this, which had to be far more entertaining than the game at that point:
There was a DRONE DELAY during the A’s opener vs the Cubs in Sacramento.
But, hey, every stadium has growing pains, right? Sure, the tool shed and the no-dugout-bathrooms problem aren’t going away anytime in the next three years, probably, but maybe they’ll at least figure out how to keep the radio broadcasts on the air, and maybe one day the A’s will even learn how to pitch! And at least the A’s no longer had to worry about empty seats, since their new stadium only holds 14,000 people, only 10,000 of them in actual seats—
Well then. Anyone else want to pile on?
“I think it’s so stupid that we have to play at a Triple-A stadium,” Cubs veteran reliever Ryan Brasier told USA TODAY Sports, “when they have maybe not a perfectly good ballpark in Oakland, but a big-league ballpark. I would have much rather play in Oakland than Sacramento, but I guess it doesn’t really matter what we want.”
No, no, it does not. All that matters here is that Fisher decided that he wasn’t happy with the $775 million in public money being offered for a new stadium development at Howard Terminal in Oakland, and would rather move to a stadium in Las Vegas that he didn’t have the money lined up for yet, and rejected an offer from Oakland to extend his lease there by paying actual rent. So here we are, for at least the next three years. Though good news, everybody! Fisher got permits approved to break ground for a new Vegas stadium, that should be happening real soon now, right?
The owner said the team’s stadium project in Las Vegas is “in a good place.” He has been targeting a June groundbreaking in Las Vegas. Asked Monday if a summer start to the construction is still possible, he said only, “I hope so.”
This is fine. It occurs to me that before setting betting lines about where the A’s would end up, I probably should have specified what “ends up” means.
I don’t know which scenario would amuse me more, the A’s making the playoffs this year or the Rays. Showcasing a major-league team in a minor-league park should cause shame in the MLB offices, but I think it’s been clear for years that those folks in the offices are shameless. As for attendance, I’m willing to take bets as to which team will have it worse come July or August.
The difference between the Rays and A’s ballparks is the Rays ballpark is used by actual MLB players (during spring training) so it has at least some of the amenities MLB players expect. While the A’s ballpark is AAA all the way and was never intended to be used as an MLB venue
It’s so weird, because we were assured they were going to pack that place every night.
https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2024/04/04/21249/as-announce-temporary-relocation-to-sacramento-for-next-3-4-years-updating/#comment-62888
Curious what the price impact of Trump’s new tariffs might be on the proposed LV stadium.
Good question — are most spherical armadillos imported or produced locally?
I’d say locally, based on their increasing northern range in the US.
But yes, I second Kyle’s concern, as I can easily see Fisher asking LV and/or Nevada for more money to finish the stadium, or messing around with the timeline for relocating to LV. Given the animosity between Fisher and Mark Davis, I won’t ever expect the A’s to investigate the idea of playing at Allegiant Stadium, but who knows what may shake down from the tariff fiasco?
I, for one, am hoping what shakes out is that Fisher no longer owns the Athletics… But that they are stranded in Sacramento for as long as he does.
The tariffs, if they hold, would cause construction costs to increase. Given Fisher’s empty wallets, even a 25% increase would derail this project. I had not considered the prospect that the As become stranded in Sacramento. That would be a fitting conclusion to Fisher’s ineptitude and Manfred’s incompetence.
Fisher doesn’t even have access to the $380 million that was already approved because he hasn’t ponied up any hard cash. All he has submitted was term-sheets and promissory notes. His scheme of luring investors for the stadium isn’t going according to plan. People are not stupid. Who in their right mind would invest in a stadium that would be owned by a government entity on leased land?
I blame Manfred more than Fisher for this debacle. Fisher is Frank McCourt 2.0. A guy with no money yet empowered to own a MLB franchise. Yet Manfred approved the relocation without Fisher paying any relocation fees and not having a credible financing plan. Furthermore, Manfred wants to expand by the time he retires in 2029, yet has torpedoed one of the markets (Las Vegas) that the league would have reaped at least a billion in expansion fees. The entire Vegas stadium deal is an unmitigated disaster and proof that MLB under Manfred’s leadership doesn’t have a clue to handle such complex matters such as relocation/expansion/stadium deals.
“People are not stupid” [citation needed]
Btw, according to an article in SFGate.com the seated capacity of Sutter Health park is 10,624 and the stadium capacity is 13,416 (rivercats say the capacity is 14,014, perhaps the A’s need to take over some areas to accommodate TV/Radio for both teams). A’s said Monday was a sellout but they gave away about 10% of the tickets. https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/as-sacramento-attendance-woes-opening-series-20255748.php
Tim Keown also has an article on ESPN.com (https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44505315/athletics-chicago-cubs-west-sacramento-home-opener-minor-league-river-cats). So far ESPN is not scheduled to show a game from Sutter Health Field (nor are there any national TV games scheduled as far as I can tell)
It MAY have been the larger number before they took away some of the real estate for the new screen and club house.
They aren’t even selling out the stadium, and for at least one game, ~10% of the tickets were comped.
https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/as-sacramento-attendance-woes-opening-series-20255748.php
ken beat me to it. That’s what I get for not reading.
Given that the Celtics just sold for $6.1B, you have to think that almost certainly raises the value of the Warriors beyond what it was already estimated at. The Forbes estimate (imperfect but what we have to go on) for the Celtics was $6B pre-sale, and they went for just over that. They have the Warriors valued at $8.8B, and other estimates range up to $9.4B.
Definitely some wish casting on my part here, but I think that raises the chances that Lacob buys A’s, especially given the issues that are already being seen in Sacramento and the Vegas stadium still far from a sure thing.
My preference is still for Lacob to buy the team and move them back to Oakland to play in the Coliseum in the interim. Buy the Coliseum property from AASEG, bring them in as minority owners in exchange for the land, or some combination of the two. Build a stadium on the north lot and redevelop the rest into a mixed use, transit-oriented district. For reference, the Giants’ Mission Rock development sits on 28 acres. The Coliseum property is 120 acres.
The Warriors being worth more doesn’t actually give Lacob more cash on hand, though, unless he wants to sell some minority shares.
(Not that I think Lacob couldn’t finance an A’s purchase himself. I just don’t know that NBA franchise values change that calculus much.)
There are in fact a single stall bathroom in every dugout. I was a team photographer there for 10 years. YES – there is a toilet in each dugout – The bullpen though….
Thanks for the clarification! Not sure what was up with Suzuki, then…
They added shitters in the bullpens as part of the upgrades.
I can’t believe the MLB Players’ Association is allowing its members to play in such shoddy conditions. Why wasn’t this investigated well before the season started?
It probably was investigated and the stadium “upgrades” are not complete (and may never get completed). Sutter health field has been one of the worst AAA ballparks for amenities for multiple years if SF giants minor league players are to be believed. The clubhouse not being connected to the dugouts was obviously well known but I would have thought they would have setup something so the game wouldn’t have to be stopped if someone needed to go to the clubhouse from the dugout
I would think AAA standards are higher than that.
Honestly, I’m surprised Fresno got demoted and not Sacramento, given the issue of amenities. But I guess the California League wanted a team that wasn’t so close to other markets.
Florida legislature is shutting down CRA’s which means no more sneaky tax increment financing of stadiums…good news for taxpayers.
Did the anti-CRA bill advance further this week? It was looking uncertain as of a few weeks ago:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/726229-mike-giallombardos-cra-killing-bill-advances-but-even-some-supporters-disagree-with-its-aim/
Remember when the Seattle Pilots (remember the Seattle Pilots?) debuted in 1969 because they pushed back their debut an entire season, and Sick’s Stadium was absolutely ill-equipped for major league play due to how hurried they were forced to make it appropriate for the big leagues? Had real Foxboro Stadium vibes with all of the porta-potties.
Yeah, this is a lot like that. At least when the Blue Jays had to play in Buffalo, the ballpark already had some prep because they refused to let the major league dream die in Buffalo.
Just got an email from the A’s offering two tickets for $25 for the pair. The tickets look like they are actual seated locations and not ticket on the outfield berm. Tickets are for selected games in April and May.